Police ID instructor who shot recruit in training exercise

Source says shooting shows 'total lack of institutional control'

The Baltimore Police Department on Thursday released the name of the instructor who shot and critically wounded a recruit Tuesday afternoon during a training session at the site of the former Rosewood State Hospital in Owings Mills.

Baltimore City and its police department vow to get to the bottom of an incident in which a veteran police instructor accidentally shot a recruit in the head with live ammunition at an Owings Mills training facility.

Police said Baltimore City Police Officer William S. Kern fired that shot that injured the police recruit. Police said the 46-year-old officer is an 18-year veteran of the force, having been with the department since 1994.

Sources told the 11 News I-Team that the shooting during the training exercise shows there's a "total lack of institutional control" in the Baltimore Police Department.

Sources told I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller that Kern mistakenly grabbed the wrong weapon during the session -- his service weapon instead of a training gun -- and fired a 40-caliber bullet through a window, striking the recruit in the forehead.

At the time, the recruits were learning how to enter a building using shields. Such sessions are never supposed to involve live ammunition, Miller reported.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said "it shouldn't have happened." The mayor said she met with the trainee's family Wednesday and promised to get to the truth.

"There's no acceptable explanation for why live rounds were at a training exercise and I was so angry, I was almost speechless to think that something like this could happen," Rawlings-Blake said.

According to sources, it's unclear if protocols were in place for the city to even use the facility because it's owned by the state and, by agreement, normally used by Baltimore County for training. Tuesday was the first time the city used the site, Miller reported.

Officials said the recruit is employed by the University of Maryland campus police. He went through surgery again on Wednesday and remains in critical condition, but stable condition at Shock Trauma.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts has suspended all training pending an internal investigation, and he said the Maryland State Police have launched a criminal investigation. Six people assigned to the training academy for the city Police Department have been suspended because of the incident.

"We will be transparent and open in ensuring that we have a safe and professional police organization," Batts said Wednesday.

He promised Tuesday night to be accountable.

Batts told reporters on Tuesday, "One of the things I want to make really clear is that I probably have more questions than you do. It's just going to take time to get those answers to those questions. For me, it's unacceptable. We're going to take the time today to find out to make this better so we don't have this happen again."

The commissioner recently reorganized the department and put the training academy under the control of his chief of staff who is not a police officer by trade, Miller reported.

A second trainee with the Baltimore Police Department suffered a laceration from broken glass during the exercise and was taken to an area hospital for treatment. Detectives did not explain how that injury happened.